USPTO Patents Application 10706066

United States Patent and Trademark Office

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
I nilid Stall-, l'atint and Trademark Office

Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS

APPLICATION NO.

10/706,066

FILING DATE

I 1/12/20(0

60668 7590 09/12/2008

SAP / FINNEGAN, HENDERSON LLP
901 NEW YORK AVENUE, NW
WASHINGTON, DC 20001-4413

FIRST NAMED INVENTOR

ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.

09700.0031-00

CHEEMA, UMAR

PAPER NUMBER

DELIVERY MODE

Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.

The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.

PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)

l/ffflrC? nVrliUli Otfff Iff ids y

Application No.

10/706,066

Applicant(s)

BOZAK ET AL.

Examiner

UMAR CHEEMA

Art Unit

2144

- The MAILING DATE of this communication appears on the cover sheet with the correspondence address —
Period for Reply

A SHORTENED STATUTORY PERIOD FOR REPLY IS SET TO EXPIRE 3 MONTH(S) OR THIRTY (30) DAYS,
WHICHEVER IS LONGER, FROM THE MAILING DATE OF THIS COMMUNICATION.

- Extensions of time may be available under the provisions of 37 CFR 1 .136(a). In no event, however, may a reply be timely filed
after SIX (6) MONTHS from the mailing date of this communication.

- If NO period for reply is specified above, the maximum statutory period will apply and will expire SIX (6) MONTHS from the mailing date of this communication.

- Failure to reply within the set or extended period for reply will, by statute, cause the application to become ABANDONED (35 U.S.C. § 133).
Any reply received by the Office later than three months after the mailing date of this communication, even if timely filed, may reduce any
earned patent term adjustment. See 37 CFR 1 .704(b).

Status

1 )KI Responsive to communication(s) filed on 29 May 2008 .
2a )^ This action is FINAL. 2b)D This action is non-final.

3) D Since this application is in condition for allowance except for formal matters, prosecution as to the merits is

closed in accordance with the practice under Ex parte Quayle, 1935 CD. 11, 453 O.G. 213.

Disposition of Claims

4) ^ Claim(s) 1 and 3-8 is/are pending in the application.

4a) Of the above claim(s) is/are withdrawn from consideration.

5) D Claim(s) is/are allowed.

6) |EI Claim(s) 1, 3-8 is/are rejected.

7) 0 Claim(s) is/are objected to.

8) D Claim(s) are subject to restriction and/or election requirement.

Application Papers

9) Q The specification is objected to by the Examiner.

10) D The drawing(s) filed on is/are: a)D accepted or b)D objected to by the Examiner.

Applicant may not request that any objection to the drawing(s) be held in abeyance. See 37 CFR 1.85(a).
Replacement drawing sheet(s) including the correction is required if the drawing(s) is objected to. See 37 CFR 1.121(d).

1 1) D The oath or declaration is objected to by the Examiner. Note the attached Office Action or form PTO-152.

Priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119

12) D Acknowledgment is made of a claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a)-(d) or (f).
a)D All b)D Some * c)D None of:

1 .□ Certified copies of the priority documents have been received.

20 Certified copies of the priority documents have been received in Application No. .

3.Q Copies of the certified copies of the priority documents have been received in this National Stage
application from the International Bureau (PCT Rule 17.2(a)).
* See the attached detailed Office action for a list of the certified copies not received.

Attach ment(s)

1) ^| Notice of References Cited (PTO-892) 4) □ Interview Summary (PTO-41 3)

2) □ Notice of Draftsperson's Patent Drawing Review (PTO-948) Paper No(s)/Mail Date. .

3) □ Information Disclosure Statement(s) (PTO/SB/08) 5 ) □ Notice of Informal Patent Application

Paper No(s)/Mail Date . 6) □ Other: .

PTOL-T26 d (Rev e 08-06r

Office Action Summary

Part of Paper No./Mail Date 20080904

Application/Control Number: 10/706,066 Page 2

Art Unit: 2144

DETAILED ACTION

Response to Amendment

1 . This action is response to the Amendment filed on 29 May 2008. Independent
claims 1, 3 and 6 have been amended. Claim 2 has been canceled without prejudice or
disclaimer. Accordingly, claims 1 and 3-8 remain pending.

Applicant's arguments, see remarks, filed 05/29/2008, with respect to 35 U.S.C §
101 rejection to claims 6-8 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 35
U.S.C § 101 rejection of claims 6-8 has been withdrawn.

Response to Arguments

2. Applicant's arguments with respect to claims, 1 and 3-8 have been considered
but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.

Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 1 03(a) which forms the basis for all
obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:

(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set
forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and
the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the
invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains.
Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.

The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1 , 148
USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining
obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) are summarized as follows:

1 . Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.

2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.

3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.

4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating
obviousness or nonobviousness.

Application/Control Number: 10/706,066
Art Unit: 2144

Page 3

3. Claims 1 and 2-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable
over Naik et al (Naik) (US 2006/0294238) in view of Burnett et al (Burnett) (US
2004/022571 1 ) and further in view of Bishop et al (Bishop) (US 5,784,552).

Regarding claim 1, Naik substantially discloses the invention as claimed a network
comprising: plurality of computer systems; and a plurality of manager services, each
associated with one of the computer system (see par. 0048; figure 1; resource
managers) the manager services handling at least locating, reserving, allocating,
monitoring, and deallocating one or more computational resources, of the respective
associated computer system; the manager services: (see par. [0025-0032]; key
components of the present invention), upon receipt of a command requesting a
resource, loading new instructions to modify original instructions residing in a computer
system to modify the behavior of the one or more computational resources of the
computer system (see par. 0013, 0024-0025; routing of grid client request to the best
available grid resources); logging changes made to the computer system; including
modifications made to the original instructions by the new instructions; and reverting the
computer system to an original state including removing modifications made to the
original instructions, based on the logged changes, without restarting the computer
system (see par. [0032]; grid resource management system and client management
system).

Naik substantially discloses the invention as claimed above for the given reason
however Naik does not explicitly disclose wherein said plurality of computer systems.

Application/Control Number: 10/706,066 Page 4

Art Unit: 2144

However in the same field of invention Burnett discloses wherein said plurality of
computer systems (see abstract, par. 001 1 ; a grid manager computer and grid
computers utilizing a communications network). It would have been obvious to one of
the ordinary skill in the art of networking to combine the teaching of Naik and Burnett for
a maintainable grid Management system.

Naik and Burnett substantially disclose the invention as claimed for the reason
above however do not explicitly discloses wherein logging changes made to the
computer system; including modifications made to the original instructions by the new
instructions; and reverting the computer system to an original state including removing
modifications made to the original instructions, based on the logged changes. In the
same field of invention Bishop discloses wherein logging changes made to the
computer system; including modifications made to the original instructions by the new
instructions; and reverting the computer system to an original state including removing
modifications made to the original instructions, based on the logged changes (see
figures 14-16 and the details related; col. 14, lines 9-43, also see figure 4-5 and the
related details, col. 8, lines, 30-col. 9, line 28).

It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill person in the art of
networking to combine the teaching of Naik and Burnett into Bishop for a maintainable
grid management system. Motivation fordoing so would have been the system provides
the users of the grid with option to select between various levels of computer security,
performance, and availability in performing jobs submitted to the grid (see Burnett: par.
0009).

Application/Control Number: 10/706,066
Art Unit: 2144

Page 5

Regarding claim 2 (Canceled).

Regarding claim 3, Naik substantially discloses the invention as claimed a method
comprising: receiving a message having a command for a service that handles locating,
reserving, allocating, monitoring, and deallocating one or more computational resources
for an application running on a computer in a network (see par. [0025-0032]; client
request manager, key components of the present invention); loading a first set of
instructions from a location remote from the service in response to the command (see
par. [0013-0014, 0128]; accessing remotely); replacing a portion of instructions for the
service with the first set of instructions; logging changes made to the computer,
including changes made to the portion of instructions for the service; executing the
service according to the first set of instructions (see par. [0034, 0036]); and reverting the
computer to an original state by removing the logged changes made to the computer.

Naik substantially discloses the invention as claimed above for the given reason
however Naik does not explicitly disclose wherein said replacing a portion of instructions
for the service with the first set of instructions. However in the same field of invention
Burnett discloses wherein said replacing a portion of instructions for the service with the
first set of instructions (see par. [0044]).

Naik and Burnett substantially disclose the invention as claimed for the reason
above however do not explicitly discloses wherein logging changes made to the
computer, including changes made to the portion of instructions for the service; and

Application/Control Number: 10/706,066 Page 6

Art Unit: 2144

reverting the computer to an original state by removing the logged changes made to the
computer. In the same field of invention Bishop discloses wherein logging changes
made to the computer, including changes made to the portion of instructions for the
service; and reverting the computer to an original state by removing the logged changes
made to the computer (see figures 14-16 and the details related; col. 14, lines 9-43, also
see figure 3-5 and the related details, col. 8, lines, 30-col. 9, line 28).

It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill person in the art of
networking to combine the teaching of Naik and Burnett into Bishop for a maintainable
grid management system. Motivation fordoing so would have been the system provides
the users of the grid with option to select between various levels of computer security,
performance, and availability in performing jobs submitted to the grid (see Burnett: par.
0009).

Regarding claim 4, the limitations of this claim has already been addressed (see claim 3
above).

Regarding claim 5, Naik discloses the method of claim 3 further comprising: modifying a
relationship between the service and a second service in response to the command
(see par. [0124]), wherein the second service comprises locating, reserving, allocating,
monitoring, and deallocating one or more computational resources for an application
running on a computer in the network (see par. [0025-0032]; key components of the
present invention).

Application/Control Number: 10/706,066
Art Unit: 2144

Page 7

Regarding claim 6, Naik substantially discloses the invention as claimed a computer
program product stored on a computer-readable storage device, the computer program
product having instructions operable, when executed by a processor, to cause a data
processing apparatus to perform a method, comprising (see pg. 1 , par [001 1]): receiving
a message having a command for a service comprises locating, reserving, allocating,
monitoring, and deallocating one or more computational resources for an application
running on a computer in a network (see pg. 2-3, par. [0025-0032]; client request
manager, key components of the present invention); loading a first set of instructions
from a location remote from the service in response to the command (see par. 0013,
0024-0025; routing of grid client request to the best available grid resources); replacing
a portion of instructions for the service with the first set of instructions; logging changes
made to the computer, including changes made to the portion of instructions for the
service; executing the service according to the first set of instructions (see pg. 3, par.
[0036]); and reverting the computer to an original state by removing the logged changes
made to the computer.

Naik substantially discloses the invention as claimed above for the given reason
however Naik does not disclose wherein said a computer program product tangibly
embodied in a computer-readable storage device and replacing a portion of instructions
for the service with the first set of instructions. However in the same field of invention
Burnett discloses wherein said a computer program product tangibly embodied in a
computer-readable storage device (see par. 0013; a computer medium is disclosed that

Application/Control Number: 10/706,066 Page 8

Art Unit: 2144

tangibly embodies a program of instructions) and replacing a portion of instructions for
the service with the first set of instructions (see par. [0044]).

Naik substantially discloses the invention as claimed above for the given reason
however Naik does not disclose wherein said replacing a portion of instructions for the
service with the first set of instructions. However in the same field of invention Burnett
discloses wherein said replacing a portion of instructions for the service with the first set
of instructions (see par. [0044]).

Naik and Burnett substantially disclose the invention as claimed for the reason
above however do not explicitly discloses wherein logging changes made to the
computer, including changes made to the portion of instructions for the service; and
reverting the computer to an original state by removing the logged changes made to the
computer. In the same field of invention Bishop discloses wherein logging changes
made to the computer, including changes made to the portion of instructions for the
service; and reverting the computer to an original state by removing the logged changes
made to the computer (see figures 14-16 and the details related; col. 14, lines 9-43, also
see figure 3-5 and the related details, col. 8, lines, 30-col. 9, line 28).

It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill person in the art of
networking to combine the teaching of Naik and Burnett into Bishop for a maintainable
grid management system. Motivation for doing so would have been the system provides
the users of the grid with option to select between various levels of computer security,
performance, and availability in performing jobs submitted to the grid (see Burnett: par.
0009).

Application/Control Number: 10/706,066
Art Unit: 2144

Page 9

Regarding claim 7, the limitations of this claim has already been addressed (see claim 6
above).

Regarding claim 8, Naik discloses the computer program product of claim 6 wherein the
computer program product is further operable to cause a data processing apparatus to
modify a relationship between the service and a second service in response to the
command (see par. [0124]), wherein the second service comprises locating, reserving,
allocating, monitoring, and deallocating one or more computational resources for an
application running on a second computer in the network (see par. [0025-0032]; key
components of the present invention).

4. Examiner's Note: Examiner has cited particular paragraphs, figures, columns and line
numbers in the references as applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant.
Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to
the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as
well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing the responses, to fully
consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention,
as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the examiner.
Prior Art of Record

Application/Control Number: 10/706,066 Page 10

Art Unit: 2144

The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to
applicant's disclosure. Please see the form PTO-892 (Notice of Cited Reference) for a
list of more relevant prior arts.

Conclusion

Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in
this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP
§ 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37
CFR 1.136(a).

A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE
MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within
TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not
mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the
shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any
extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1 .136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of
the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later
than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.

Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the
examiner should be directed to UMAR CHEEMA whose telephone number is (571 )270-
3037. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00AM-5:00PM.

If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's
supervisor, William Jr. Vaughn can be reached on 571-272-3922. The fax phone

Application/Control Number: 10/706,066 Page 1 1

Art Unit: 2144

number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-
273-8300.

Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the
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uc

/Umar Cheema/

Examiner, Art Unit 2144

/William C. Vaughn, Jr./

Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2144